Beginning in September 2025, the Ministry of Education announced that all schools in Taiwan are to implement regulations governing phone usage during school hours. This move reflects a broader global trend: UNESCO reports the proportion of countries enforcing mobile phone bans in schools has risen from 24% to nearly 60% in just three years, highlighting the growing international concern over the impact of devices on learning.

The Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao announced in March of 2025 that students in elementary, junior high, and high schools would generally be required to turn off devices and hand them in for centralized storage during school hours. Exceptions are permitted for educational use or emergencies, but specific management procedures are left to individual schools. Cheng emphasized in March that while the Ministry has established overarching guidelines, they will respect the methods set by individual schools, allowing school-level customization of how devices are collected and securely stored.

The policy is driven by what Cheng described as “scientific research that supports the idea of limiting phone use in schools to create a better environment for learning and development.” Dr. Rainbow, Director of Educational Technology and involved in reviewing the phone policy at Taipei American School (TAS), has emphasized that the Ministry did not mandate a specific procedure to be followed, and rather, set a standard: “We need to ensure that having access to phones during the school day does not impact students’ learning.” She explained that since TAS already requires middle school students to leave phones in their lockers during the school day and high school students to drop phones in a centralized classroom location before lessons begin, some may think that TAS already has sufficient measures in place to fulfill the Ministry’s wishes. However, emerging research suggests that mental wellness and the ability to adjust concentration between classes are negatively affected when phone access is permitted between class times. 

Across Taiwan, local and international schools have already adopted a range of approaches under similar flexibility guidelines: the objective that phone access should not negatively impact student learning. For example, Taipei European School has adopted an “away-for-the-day” model, where students keep their phones in their bags but are not allowed to use them during school hours, which relies on a strong culture of trust and responsibility. Kaohsiung American School has implemented a pouch system, in which students lock their phones in personal magnetic pouches and carry them throughout the day until they are unlocked after school. In contrast, most local schools rely on centralized locker systems. 

These differing approaches reflect the ongoing tensions between restriction for wellbeing, and student autonomy, and have in some cases led to student pushback. Last May, some local students protested in front of the Ministry’s office, arguing that devices can “provide information helping with learning” and accused the Ministry of not conducting large-scale opinion surveys before implementing such a change.

While other schools have already implemented clear, schoolwide systems, TAS is taking a careful, research-based and community-driven approach to evaluate whether changes are necessary. The central question, according to Dr. Rainbow, is whether access to phones between classes negatively impacts student academic, emotional and social wellbeing, and if so, whether restricting access would meaningfully improve outcomes.

During social worker and digital citizenship expert Allison Ochs’s last visit in early February, students in grades 9 through 11 were surveyed about their phone usage on campus and asked to provide recommendations for future phone policies. Questions explored challenges in balancing technology use, conditions that would encourage students to follow new rules and what students might gain or lose if phone access were further limited. Beginning in April, a student and teacher group gathered to review these responses, identified key patterns from the student body, and developed potential pilot simulations to test different policy approaches.

 Through these discussions, students also raised concerns about the possible social and health impacts when phones are restricted. Some view phones as a kind of safe space, especially those who feel excluded from social groups. This would mean that removing phone access could take away a coping mechanism for students managing stress, isolation, or boredom from a lack of socialization. Many others are concerned about restricted access to communication with family or friends across campus, as well as reduced flexibility in managing academic work. Questions also remain about how such policies would meaningfully address the root causes of phone overuse.

As of late April, no final decision has been made by the school administration. With an announcement likely landing in early May, the TAS community still awaits further clarification on whether changes will be implemented the following school year–and if so, what form they will take.